The Hunger Games

Though the first book in the young-adult trilogy — about a 16-year-old girl who lives in a post-apocalyptic world where 24 children are chosen to fight each other in a televised battle — came out in 2008 and immediately dominated bestseller lists, it was the anticipation of this year’s blockbuster film that spurred a rise in complaints to the American Library Association. Objections — including concerns that The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay are “anti-ethnic,” “anti-family” and “occult/satanic” — caused the series to be named the third most-challenged work in U.S. libraries.